But this year's Black Friday was also huge for online sales. ComScore is reporting that e-commerce sales for the Friday after Thanksgiving surged 26 percent over the previous year, surpassing $1 billion for the first time. The ComScore folks are now calling Black Friday -- in retail-speak -- a "multi-channel marketing phenomenon."

Even online shopping on Thanksgiving day is growing, up 32 percent this year to $633 million, according to ComScore.

The Seattle CEO who raised salaries for all of his employees to a minimum of $70,000 a year, drawing accusations of socialism, now says he has fallen on hard times, the Washington Times reported Saturday.